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Letters to the editor

Sep 2, 2013

Shameful to link Click, GOP to low teacher pay

Re: the Aug. 27 letter to the editor “Support education by not supporting GOP.”

We’ve lived in Tucson for the past 40 years. When I hear the name Jim Click, I not only think cars, but also the benevolent generosity of this man to so many different Tucson charities. I never purchased a car from Mr. Click, nor have I met the man, but to denigrate him as the letter writer did, by somehow equating the Republican Party and Tucson teachers’ compensation, is beneath contempt. For the Daily Star to print it is not only a crock, but you should hang your head in shame.

A wider, clearer lens is required to interpret this phenomenon than the one offered in the article, namely that immigrants are seeking a loophole to gain legal entry in the U.S. Thousands of Mexicans have been killed in their country in the U.S.-Mexico drug war. Meanwhile, Honduras has imploded, becoming the deadliest nation in the hemisphere, if not the world, in the wake of a 2009 military coup. These two humanitarian crises are largely responsible for the latest surge of refugees to the Southwest border.

Everything is connected. Today we are witnessing the predictable and catastrophic consequences of U.S.-Latin American policy and practice. These refugees are the collateral damage of our national addiction to drugs and power brokering. They are caught in between governments and cartels. Let us not misconstrue a loophole to citizenship with an authentic grasp for a lifeline.

I left my bicycle in front of my house; someone came by and stole it and then abandoned it in a wash. I never found it, but the city did, and it ﻿ impounded it.

Because I didn’t recover it myself, I was fined $30. There was no trial, no hearing, just a fine that showed up on my water bill. Two people won — the thief who stole my bike, and the city that got a $600 bike and a $30 fine. As the property owner and the victim of a crime, I got the guilty verdict with no way to defend myself for a crime that someone else committed.

If this tale sounds anything like the new city ordinance about shopping carts, it’s pure coincidence. Thank you, council, for another brilliant solution.

Jim MacMillan

Retired, Tucson

Where is valuable photo equipment?

Re: the Aug. 17 article “Report: 6 TUSD workers ignored thefts.”

I taught photography for the﻿ Tucson Unified School District﻿ at Palo Verde High School for more than ﻿20 years, accumulating expensive photographic and technology equipment, mostly through Carl Perkins Federal Grant funds.

When I retired from this position, I was told the program would continue and many thousands of dollars of equipment — cameras, darkroom enlargers, studio lights, computers, printers, scanners — remained securely locked at the school, inventoried and in good condition.

Palo Verde immediately eliminated the photo program and the equipment disappeared. When I inquired about the equipment, I was told it had been dispersed to other schools; since this was one of only two remaining photo programs in TUSD, I imagine it became﻿ a “help yourself” bonus program to some district﻿ employees.

I have been telling anyone who will listen for years about the harm done to both boys and girls raised without fathers. Whoever says fathers are not important is wrong. Kudos to Rene Varelas; despite a past mistake he is now doing the right thing. Someone give this man a job. He deserves it.